Thursday, August 21, 2014

Although Michael Cuddyer certainly showed his bat was back to major league standard when he hit for the cycle on Sunday, his fitness might not have been, as he had to sit out on both Tuesday and Wednesday with hamstring tightness. In other Rockies news, it may be a while before Carlos Gonzalez is ready to play, while Rafael Betancourt could actually return from his Tommy John surgery this season.MLB.com's Thomas Harding reported that Cuddyer had to sit on Tuesday because of tightness following Sunday's doubleheader, which the veteran played both games of, accumulating ten at-bats and obviously doing a lot of running. Cuddyer was out of the lineup again on Wednesday, but he told Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post that he was available and expects to play on Friday.

Harding had a cautionary report on Gonzalez, who underwent surgery on his left knee on Monday. The patella tendon in that knee was repaired and a bursa sac was removed. Head trainer Keith Dugger told Harding that it would take 'months' before the team knew whether the outfielder could return for the start of Spring Training next year.

Better news came regarding former closer Rafael Betancourt, who had his UCL surgery last September and is potentially in line to get some major league work next month. Manager Walt Weiss told Harding that Betancourt was 'healthy' and was just 'building himself up' in the minors, hinting that the team would very much like to have the right-hander back on the big league roster come September. The 39-year-old pitched 13 1/3 innings in Rookie ball over the past six weeks, moving up to Triple-A Colorado Springs over the weekend, where he has pitched two clean innings so far. Betancourt had 16 saves and a 4.08 ERA last season before going down with the torn UCL.

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